How to grind your elo
Well recently, I have been playing much better. I am now at my peak rating (though I do not consider myself at peak strength as I still hang pieces in OTB randomly), and consistently got a good accuracy of 85% consistently, or at least close to that. I realised that it is not actually how many games you play in order to grind rating (unless you are miles above your rating range in terms of strength), but the quality of your play.
You may play 20 games in a day, and perhaps win 12 and lose 8, but after all that, you would've only gained the equivalent of 4 wins! However, if you play only a few games, but games which are actually of a good quality (meaning you are much more likely to win them), even if you play 3 games and lose 1, you have gained less rating, but you have saved a huge amount of time for getting half of the previous case! I actually found that the previous case actually tends to make you frustrated, and start tilting greatly, so instead of playing a load of games in a day, I will play only a few games (sometimes only 1)!
But while you are playing fewer games, how do you ensure that you are playing good quality? Well what I tend to do is do a few puzzles before I play a game. That way I will be more alert before playing a game. Puzzles also sort of show you if you should play games today or not: if you solved many puzzles compared to missing them, it suggests that it is ok for you to play some games. If it is vice versa, then probably do not play games (maybe 1 game but not as many). However, also studying some chess a little before you play games may help (e.g looking at endgames). The reasons for doing these sorts of things is that it generally makes you more alert, making you play better quality games.
But overall, I believe it is playing less, but good quality games which makes you "grind" rating, not many games at once (unless you are miles stronger than people in the rating bracket). Perhaps try to make yourself more alert just before, e.g doing puzzles, but I hope it helps!
